Syed Thajudeen
Encyclopedia
Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...
, South India, where his Malaysian-born parents lived during the Second World War. He joined his family in Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
when he was eleven years old but later went back to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to pursue a course in art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Madras (1967-74).
Without doubt, Syed's unique style and aesthetic sense draw inspiration from his personal Indian background and Indian traditional painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
styles. Syed's studies at Madras College of Arts and Crafts also informed and influenced his sense of aesthetics.
A distinctive stylisation, romantic
Romantic love
Romance is the pleasurable feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.In the context of romantic love relationships, romance usually implies an expression of one's love, or one's deep emotional desires to connect with another person....
treatment of subject matter and the rich colours as in the Indian medieval paintings of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
and of the Mughal
Mughal painting
Mughal painting is a particular style of South Asian painting, generally confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums, which emerged from Persian miniature painting, with Indian Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist influences, and developed largely in the court...
(enriched from the wealth of Indian mythology) are apparent in his works. This, together with the traditional visual arts' integral connection with literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, helped shape Syed's early works. His works, as individualistic as they are, attempt to evoke a state of rasa, or heightened mood that belongs to a larger tapestry and sensibility of Indian (for that matter, Asian
Culture of Asia
The culture of Asia is human civilization in Asia. It features different kinds of cultural heritage of many nationalities, societies, and ethnic groups in the region, traditionally called a continent from a Western-centric perspective, of Asia...
) artistic traditions. In many instances where his favourite subject matters deal with women and love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
, they share the same archetypal symbols and metaphors.
Syed's impressionable days spent at the Madras College of Arts and Crafts had a profound influence on his search for artistic style and identity. Baroda, Calcutta and Madras were at the time rife with new ideas, experimentations and soul-searching discussions by the pioneering
Innovator
An innovator in a general sense, is a person or an organization who is one of the first to introduce into reality something better than before. That often opens up a new area for others and achieves an innovation.-History:...
figures of India's post-independence visual artists. These artists were struggling to establish their individualistic styles. At the same time, they felt compelled to learn from the larger vehicle of Indian traditional arts that ubiquitously permeate the life of the masses in India.
A larger number of these early figurative contemporary painters of India, found the rich tapestry of the Indian tradition, a source of inspiration as well as a point of embarkation for their own contemporary approach. These pioneering protagonists of India's visual arts had a deep impact on Syed Thajudeen's early paintings.
On returning to Malaysia, however, Syed soon established his own individualistic style and expression that transformed the early Indian influences into what is now his present style. Presently, Syed's works are accepted by Malaysia's art institutions and form part of a thriving Malaysian contemporary art scene. However, this has not always been the case. During the initial stages of Syed's career, Malaysian art was rampant with grandiose 'manifestos' and dogmas, which were critical of his work. This period in the 70's coincided with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
. This movement had a profound influence on the direction of Islamic painters favouring abstract paintings, with those who still chose to paint the human figures finding themselves scorned upon.
In the course of almost three decades of prolific and creative
Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
output in Malaysia, Syed has managed to convince his detractors - who had initially criticised him for his 'Indian-ness' and overt decorativeness - that his works are now an important element of Malaysian art. Today, Syed's works are accepted by the mainstream Malaysian art circles and have become part of the rich Malaysian contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
heritage. His works decorate the walls of the National Art Gallery of Malaysia, Singapore Art Museum
Singapore Art Museum
The Singapore Art Museum contains the national art collection of Singapore. It has a collection of 7,750 pieces of Singaporean and Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art, and has an expanding collection of new Asian and international contemporary art.- History :Officially opened in 1996, it...
, corporate
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
buildings and many private
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
homes in Malaysia and abroad.
Syed Thajudeen has truly established his niche as one of Malaysia's distinguished figurative painters with a unique lyrical and poetic style.